Rise in Burglaries, Robberies and Thefts in Dundalk area

Burglaries, Thefts from Shops, Thefts from Vehicles, Robberies from Persons, Robberies from Establishments, Criminal Damage and Sexual Offences in Dundalk all showed an increase compared with the same period last year, the Dundalk JPC (Joint Policing Committee) heard at the June meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Thefts from Persons, Minor and Serious Assaults, Public Order Offences, Sale/Supply of Drugs and Possession of Drugs for Own Use all saw a decrease compared with the same period in 2022.

Superintendent Charlie Armstrong presented the figures to the June meeting alongside the numbers for the same period last year and for the same period in 2020.

The figures showed that:

Burglaries rose from 53 to 64 while Thefts from Shops also rose from 145 in 2022 to 216 in the same period this year.

The numbers for 2020 showed Burglaries standing at 63 and Thefts from Shops at 153.

Thefts from Vehicles rose from 19 to 40 while Robbery from Establishments rose from 2 to 6.

In the same period in 2020 Thefts from Vehicles stood at 35 while Robbery from Establishments was at 1.

Robberies from Persons also saw an increase from 4 to 6. The 2020 figure was 1.

Incidents of Criminal Damage saw a significant increase rising to 182 from 108 in the same period last year; this compares with 116 incidents in 2020.

Sexual Offences also increased standing at 20 compared to 16 last year and 19 in 2020.

Offences that decreased included Thefts from Persons which decreased from 6 to 5.

There were 6 recorded Thefts from Persons in the same period in 2020.

Minor Assaults decreased slightly from 66 to 58, as did Assaults Causing Harm decreasing marginally from 40 to 33.

The same figures stood at 32 and 51 respectively in 2020.

Drugs offences also decreased with Sale/Supply Offences decreasing from 23 to 14 and Possession for Own Use statistics falling from 91 to 81.

In 2020, there were 43 Sale/Supply Offences and 194 Possession for Own Use offences.

Additionally, Superintendent Armstrong revealed that there were also 175 section 23 searches and 77 searches under warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

There were also 24 arrests for Possession of Offensive weapons.

When it comes to road traffic offences, gardai recorded 39 cases of Driving While Intoxicated and 5 collisions resulting in serious injury.

There has also been one fatal road traffic collision to date in 2023.